Everyone should like to listen to stories when they are young, perhaps fables and educational fables, or fairy tales that are imaginative; perhaps they are translated into Chinese versions of foreign stories, or Chinese native stories that have been handed down for thousands of years, and everyone's childhood is almost spent in the company of small stories. Many stories will have completely different feelings when they grow up, and they will understand that fairy tales can also be a portrayal of reality, not completely absurd.
"Alice in Wonderland" is a world-famous children's book, but perhaps many people do not know that the heroine Alice is the prototype of a 7-year-old girl. At a time when this book swept the world, the girl's family resolutely cut off contact with the author, what is the origin of this?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > popular children's literature</h1>
Unlike some of the world's leading writers, the author of Alice in Wonderland was not a professional writer but a mathematics teacher at Christ's College, Oxford, before writing the book. Lewis Carroll is an introvert by nature, and because of his severe stuttering, he has reduced communication with people, perhaps because of this, his brain activity is more abundant, he often has some wonderful ideas, and he is also very interested in stories and novels.
Alice in Wonderland was Carroll's first work, but when it was published in 1865, it was immediately popular all over the world, and even the world-famous writer Oscar Wilde praised it. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom at that time was also deeply attracted by this work, and the Chinese literary master Shen Congwen took inspiration from this work and created the Chinese version of Alice's Travels in China.
In addition to the literary world, the novel has also caused great repercussions in other fields. British mathematicians and logicians have even quoted the original text of this "children's literature" in some professional works. If it is just a wonderful children's story, even if it is highly circulated, it cannot be regarded as a classic by masters from all walks of life. The charm of Alice in Wonderland is clearly not only in its imaginative world, but also in the absurd and exaggerated way to portray the true face of Mid-19th Century Britain.
Stereotypical, pedantic, and repressive, these are the true portrayals of the Victorian period, and the images of the contrived "gentleman rabbit", the inflamed duchess, and the violent and powerful Red Queen are also full of irony to reality. Carroll has shaped an epoch-making classic in the history of English literature, but no one may have imagined that this great work was only a "gift of love" to a little girl at the beginning.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > Alice's archetypal little girl</h1>
The heroine of the novel is also based on a little girl named Alice, who is the daughter of the dean of Christ College, and Carol, as a college teacher and neighbor of Alice's family, often takes her to play with her sisters. Alice's parents have a crush on the knowledgeable, introverted and shy teacher and are relieved to leave the children in his care and leadership.
In addition to literature and mathematics, Carol was also very good at photography, often taking pictures of these little girls. Of all the little girls, Carol took the most pictures of Alice. From the age of 3, he photographed Alice for 7 years. Carol is also the most special to Alice, so when Alice was 7 years old, she went rafting with her sisters and invited Carol to tell a story, And Carol made up a fantasy story with the protagonist named Alice.
The impromptu story is the prototype of Alice in Wonderland, and the little girls are so attracted that Alice even asks Carol to write the story down and give it to her. Carol first tried writing at Alice's request, and at first intended it only as a gift, but only a few years later with the encouragement of the writer Henry Kingsley.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > the girl's home was cut off from the author</h1>
However, after the book was published and quickly became popular, Alice's family did not "have honor" because of this, but chose to cut off contact with Carol. Why?
At that time, as the book became more and more popular, people became more and more interested in the story behind it, and gradually there were some remarks that Carol had feelings for Alice that were beyond the elders and unethical. Alice's parents may have been influenced by these remarks, or perhaps they really sensed something, so they directly cut off contact with Carol, not wanting their 10-year-old daughter to be affected in any way.
The appearance of rumors is naturally not out of thin air, Carol is very special to Alice, compared with other little girls, he is too close to Alice, and in his diary, the parts related to Alice have been torn off, which seems to want to cover up. Years later, Carroll's letter to Alice also contained a misleading line: "I have dozens of children and friends, but they give me a different feeling." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > Conclusion:</h1>
Carol never married and was alone until her death, while Alice was married and married at the age of 28. Years later, these rumors are still occasionally brought up, whether true or not, and are a great problem for Alice.